Hurricane Basics
What a hurricane is, how it is rated, and the season.
What is a Tropical Cyclone? 🔒
A tropical cyclone is the engine behind every hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone — a rotating, organized system of storms feeding on warm ocean water. Here's what one actually is, the parts that make it dangerous, and how it's classified.
beginnerHow Hurricanes Form 🔒
Hurricanes are heat engines that need a specific recipe — warm deep ocean water, moist air, low wind shear, a seed disturbance, and enough distance from the equator to spin. Here's how those ingredients build a storm, and what makes it fall apart.
beginnerThe Saffir-Simpson Scale: Why Category Does Not Tell the Whole Story
'Category 3,' 'Category 5' — the Saffir-Simpson number is the most quoted hurricane stat, and the most over-trusted. It rates wind only, and says nothing about the surge, rain, and flooding that do most of the killing. Here's how to read it right.
beginnerHurricane Myths vs Reality 🔒
Some of the most repeated hurricane advice is wrong — and a few myths are dangerous. No, tape won't save your windows; no, don't crack them open; no, inland isn't automatically safe. Here are the big myths and what's actually true.
beginnerHurricane Season and Climatology: When and Where Storms Happen 🔒
Hurricanes cluster in certain months and places for well-understood reasons. Here's when the Atlantic season runs and peaks, what an average year looks like, where the storms come from, and why some years are busier — plus why 'it only takes one.'
beginner50 Lesser-Known Hurricane Facts 🔒
Fifty things about hurricanes most people don't know — how they're named, why they stall, the hazards that surprise people, and the history. Useful, sometimes counterintuitive facts that sharpen how you read a storm.
intermediateHurricane Glossary: Key Terms Explained 🔒
Tropical weather has its own vocabulary — cyclone vs. hurricane, watch vs. warning, surge vs. tide, the cone, the eyewall, rapid intensification. Here are the terms you'll hear most, defined in plain language so the forecasts make sense when it counts.
beginnerHurricane vs. Typhoon vs. Cyclone 🔒
Hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone aren't different storms — they're the same thing, a tropical cyclone, named differently by region. Here's which name goes where, why they spin in opposite directions north and south of the equator, and whether typhoons are really stronger.
beginner